Mother and son arrested for stealing newspaper machines

SARAH MERTINS

Published 6:00 pm, Sunday, March 13, 2005

James Erwin Robert, 25, and Cynthia Annette Perry, 41, were caught outside their home at 1022 Manning in the early morning hours of Feb. 24, police say. Robert was using a cutting torch to cut open the machines. Lt. Charles Smith said he resorted to using the torch after being unable to force them open by beating on them.

The department had received a report six days earlier from a newspaper delivery man who stated that eight of the dispensers he was responsible for stocking had been stolen in the Humble area. At the time, he reported that a white van may have been involved.

On Feb. 24, Officer P. Jolly was on patrol at approximately 4:10 a.m. when he was flagged down by a woman who, coincidentally, also is employed by The Chronicle. She told the officer that she had just happened to witness a white male driving a white Ford van stealing a machine from the Shell gas station at 112 W. First Street. She was able to give the officer the license plate, and Jolly tracked down the van, which was registered to Perry, to the residence.

When he and Officer D. Scott and Sgts. M. Nansel and M. Bradshaw arrived at the home, they saw a man, later identified as Robert, using a torch on one of the machines while Perry stood nearby. In the immediate vicinity were nine more damaged newspaper vending machines, several of them so damaged that they were no longer usable. The value of the machines was more than $5,000, but officers said Robert had only gotten $5.50 out of the ones he broke into that morning.

Robert and Perry were both arrested and charged with aggregated theft, which is a felony. Each are still in jail on a $5,000 bond.

"This is the kind of police work that can accomplished by street officers when the citizens come forward and report things that they witness," said Lt. Smith.